Day 79 – Darwin rainy season.

I woke up quite late, about 11, I think the week of early mornings and lack of sleep has finally caught up on me, surprising as these beds are very squeaky, move a lot and look a bit like you’re in a hospital.

Anyway, I got up and for I guess breakfast but technically lunch I walked a few doors down to a Thai place to grab some food. I went for the classic Pad Thai and oh my god, the portion was massive, so good but it was huge! Once again I made my way down to chill at the lagoon. The reason you can’t swim in the actual sea is because they have a big problem with sharks and at this time of year jellyfish too. On the walk to the lagoon you do walk past some old ruins from world war two when the Japanese bombed the place but the signs kinda just say ‘ohh look, ruins!’ and that’s about it… really informative.

Early afternoon I walked over to Trampoline to grab an ice cream which was awesome! It’s like $4 for 2 flavours and they’re some crazy flavours I’ve never heard of and so Australian, you can even get lamington flavour! Basically chocolate and coconut but still, it’s the thought that counts. Within about an hour of eating this the heavens opened and it was hammering it down, I could see it coming closer so as I was walking away it started to rain which was quite amusing to watch all these people sun bathing start screaming and grabbing there stuff. It was a drop here and there and then BAM! Torrential rain. I sat under a shelter for a while reading my book and waiting for it to die down a little before making my way back.

The best thing about being in hostels is talking to other people who have been to the same places, plan to go to or have been to the places you’re going to. For example this evening I found out there isn’t a train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur like many websites say, they stopped that about 3 years ago and the overnight bus will get you there about 4am which is very helpful to know as I don’t wanna arrive in KL at 4am! So the plan now is to stay another night in Singapore and get the super early bus to get me to KL for midday which means I can still catch the practise rounds for the F1, happy days!

Day 78 – Darwin, Flix in the wet.

I discovered late yesterday that on a weekend this place basically shuts down. Most shops shut at 1 or 2 on a Saturday afternoon and don’t open at all on a Sunday. Bars and stuff yes but anything else no, so I was at a bit of a loose end. Before I came to Darwin I googled about an outside cinema, as they’re everywhere in Australia, especially in the summer, because of the good weather. I found that although it’s rainy season they were putting on films every Sunday called ‘Flix in the wet’. I watched the trailer for ‘Short term 12’ and thought it looked quite interesting and a ticket to go was only $10 so I thought, why not! I made my way to the Deckchair Cinema which is near the harbour but as I got there I realised I was in the wrong place… obviously it’s rainy season so why would they show the films outside? Silly me! So I made my way back up the long flight of stairs to where my hostel was and about 1 block down was the cinema. Finally in the right place! The film was alright but it had a bit of an abrupt ending, the best bit about the experience was being in an air-conditioned cinema escaping the humidity of outside.

I left the cinema and walked down to the lagoon for a chill in the sun, quick swim and to read my book. When I finished here I made my way back to my hostel because I still had a few hours of internet leftover from the night before so I booked my Singapore and Kuala Lumpur stay and researched about some other things. The most annoying thing about this place is to use the internet you have to sit in the lobby because although you can connect to the wifi in your room the signal doesn’t actually work.